I was intrigued the other day when humorist/author Richard “Kinky” Friedman announced his plans to run for the Democratic nomination for Texas agriculture commissioner.

The last comedian to run for the job, and actually win, was Jim Hightower. But the comparison with Friedman doesn’t stop there. Hightower didn’t have any ag experience when he ran for the office; neither does Friedman.

Friedman had pondered a run for governor as a Democrat in 2010. He pulled out when it became clear that no one was taking him seriously. Plus, Houston Mayor Bill White jumped into that race, becoming the immediate prohibitive favorite for his party’s nomination.

So, what’s Kinky going to do as agriculture commissioner? I have no clue.

I’ll say this, though: He’ll make us laugh.

Friedman ran for governor as an independent in 2006. He visited Amarillo, and interviewed with the Globe-News editorial board. He was engaging, candid, personable — and totally out of his element while seeking to become governor.

He’ll be all of that as he runs for agriculture commissioner.

Hightower served a single term in that office, losing to former rancher Rick Perry, who was succeeded by ex-rancher Susan Combs, who has been succeeded by one-time farmer Todd Staples.

Yes, the office needs someone who’s gotten actual dirt under his or her fingernails.

Kinky Friedman will make us laugh. But this office is too important for someone whose claim to fame is as a humorist.

It’s pretty much understood that we all see the world through a limited prism — usually within our own field of vision.

So it is with that in mind that I must report, based on what I witnessed this past Saturday, that the 2009 Christmas shopping season is doing quite well. I can’t help but believe it could have been a whole lot worse, given what the nation faced during the 2008 holiday.

I spent a couple of hours ringing a bell while manning a donation bucket for the Salvation Army. I was camped at the south entrance to the JCPenny store at Westgate Mall. It was a lovely afternoon — although it was a bit windy. Imagine that — wind in the Panhandle.

During the course of my two-hour stint, I witnessed a lot of bulging shopping bags leaving the store. People would come in empty-handed, but would leave loaded down with goodies for their grandbabies.

I don’t have specific data to prove my belief, but my eyes didn’t play tricks on me. I saw a lot of merchandise hanging from shoppers’ hands on that day. Perhaps there was some pent-up enthusiasm, given that we’d just come out of a period of prolonged freezing weather.

Whatever it was, it has to bode well for Westgate Mall retailers, and perhaps for business owners all across Amarillo and the Panhandle.

Guyon Saunders had the biggest heart of almost anyone I’ve ever met in the Texas Panhandle.

David Swinford can’t buy a break.

For the Republicans who think President Obama, who’s been in office for not quite a year, is toast if he runs for re-election in 2012, I have a two-word response: Ronald Reagan.

In 1981, Reagan took office with the economy in serious decline. In 1982, the president’s party suffered significant losses in the off-year congressional elections, losing 27 House seats to the Democrats. President Reagan’s approval ratings fell dramatically. The GOP was in a state of woeful disrepair.

Then, just like that, it was “morning in America.” The Democrats nominated a candidate, Walter Mondale, who vowed to raise taxes. President Reagan seized on an economic reversal.

How did the 1984 election turn out? Well, the president came within 3,000 votes in Minnesota — Mondale’s home state — of scoring a 50-state sweep on his way to a rousing re-election victory.

It’s also helpful to remember that Bill Clinton’s Democratic Party suffered big losses in 1994. President Clinton, though, won re-election handily two years later.

Will a similar outcome occur in 2012? I have no way of knowing that. I do know this, however: It is far too early in the current president’s first term to be writing his political obituary.

Today’s weather reminds me of a story I’ve been telling for years. It involves the legendary football coach O.A. “Bum” Phillips and it’s gotten great laughs from those who have heard it.

Some things are just plain funny even when they aren’t intended to be.

This caption appeared under a photograph of Gov. Rick Perry in the Dec. 2 edition of the New York Times: “Rick Perry is painting himself as the authentic, don’t-mess-with-Texas conservative.”

Why is that funny? “Don’t Mess With Texas” was born many years ago as an anti-littering slogan. I think it was during the time that Garry Mauro was Texas land commissioner — which seems like an eternity by now.

But over the years, the phrase has morphed into some kind of super-macho state slogan. I don’t know if it’s because others outside of Texas have misinterpreted its meaning, or whether political opportunists within our state borders have seen it as a kind of “branding” device for the Lone Star State.

Maybe we ought to retire the old anti-litter slogan and trot out a new one that is less prone to being corrupted.

Sarah, Sarah, Sarah.

Former Alaska Gov.-turned-best-selling author Sarah Palin has jumped into the birther cesspool. She was asked today by a talk-radio jock whether the issue of President Obama’s citizenship is a legitimate issue.

Her answer was evasive and clumsy at the same time. The voters, she said, have made it an issue, so therefore it is “fair game.” She didn’t say precisely that she believes the nut cases who keep fanning the flames that question President Obama’s citizenship. She has hitched herself to the others’ bandwagon. In other words, if they believe that nonsense, then it’s OK with her.

It doesn’t matter to these goofballs that the state of Hawaii, where the president was born, has produced a birth certificate. Nor does it matter that two Honolulu newspapers published announcements of his birth — in Hawaii — back in 1961; the doubters thus have implied that the newspapers’ editors concocted a plot that makes the JFK conspiracy cultists look like rank amateurs.

These nut jobs have glommed onto the lies promoted by Obama-haters who just cannot stand the thought of this guy being elected president.

Now they can count a former governor — and current political superstar — as one of their own.

Mac Thornberry is going to run for re-election to a ninth term in Congress. He announced his intention to seek re-election today, saying that “this is a critical time for our nation.”